Killers and rapists to be freed early starting in September

I have no words for just how evil the UK government are proving to be.

I think it's true that lots of crimes happen because of poverty/trauma/low self esteem etc. Treating crime like a public health issue (as in Scotland) can be really effective. As can restorative justice and alternatives to prison for some types of crime.
But I agree, rape and sexual violence (even more than murder) is in it's own category. Where I think some people go wrong is thinking that because some crime is because of poverty it all is. Whereas there have been plenty of rich, powerful men who have turned out to have done unspeakable things. Jimmy Saville was rich and successful and well respected and he still did awful things. And one of the main experts on domestic violence talked about how they had to stop their "reformed" offenders from doing talks etc because they found the self esteem boost it gave them led to them backsliding into abusive ways again.
When you think about it you have to be so incredibly selfish to commit sexual violence especially against a child. It's basically putting their needs for sexual gratification over ruining a child's life. And that's more likely to come with abnormally high self esteem not low self esteem. And I don't know how you cure that.

Also to be fair, the Tories did have this problem! The overcrowding situation had been getting bad for years, especially post COVID and eventually it reaches the point where there is no space even for overcrowding. They started warning that very soon there would be no places at all for newly convicted prisoners to go from court from 2023/early 2024 I think.

If people don't want asylum seekers on military bases they REALLY won't want convicted rapists and murderers placed there. The problem is those bases aren't designed to keep people locked in, so making them secure would I imagine being very difficult. Prisons have a very specific spec.
The other issue that isn't talked about that much is the staffing issues for prisons. It's not just the buildings themselves. This is exacerbated by the fact that a suprisingly large number of prison officers are actually from places like Nigeria. We get told all the time about the role of immigrants in the NHS but not in the prison service. Working in a prison isn't particularly appealing and the more understaffed they become, the less appealing it becomes. So the gap is filled with immigrants. But that also means that "fixing" overall immigration levels (not just asylum seekers) will be having an impact on prison staffing.

I agree it's a completely bad idea though. Even paying for some to be housed in other countries would be a better idea (I believe some European countries have this arrangement with I think Sweden as their prison population has been reducing). It would cost a lot but be better than just releasing them.

A docudrama where the victim is not the focus and we are meant to feel sympathy with the killer because he’s been “radicalised”.

Norway is a very different country. It's a high trust, homogeous society. You can't just transfer one aspect of their system to UK and get the same result.
Also I don't see evidence that they are more successful at dealing with sexual violence which is what we're talking about.
Do you really think the dark triad sexual predator can be reformed by a bit of tea and sympathy?

Of course I agree that murderers, rapists and sex offenders need to be locked up. But the current system even fails these groups and reoffending rates are high following prison.

I think it’s not just about the crime that’s committed but also the underlying issues. If someone is addicted to drugs they will continue to offend until they get clean. If someone is illiterate they will struggle to get a job and avoid crime until they can read and write etc. That is why in my original post I said that my views aren’t popular- I don’t think punishment works if there is an underlying issue prompting offending. Experiments in Norway with creating small communities with more freedom but away from general public (they used Islands) where inmates lead relatively normal lives, are allowed to make decisions, learn essential skills and get support for their issues have been very successful. If I remember correctly reoffending rates were in single digits. I feel like society needs to see ‘punishment’ even though that punishment actually makes the problem worse.

The reason the prisons are full is because over the last 20 years sentences have got longer & longer. The UK imprisons 50% more people per capita compared to the rest of Europe. Europe isn’t noticeably more lawless as a result.

I assume that you agree murderers, rapists, sex offenders, those convicted of violent offences, especially those involving weapons should be incarcerated for the protection of the public.

What do you consider the crimes people shouldn’t be locked up for?

There are few truly victimless crimes. Eg Burglaries cause terror not just inconvenience.

We need more prisons. We need to start at school by having effective sanctions and exclusions for the violent. Education yes but need to be clear sanctions. If kids can do what the want without much inconvenience then they’ll continue down that road in adulthood.

Labour are complete idiots and dangerous with it.
Here is an idea - as we have record levels of unemployment, how about building more prisons and employing more prison officers.
That would be a lot better than releasing highly dangerous men back into society, where they can carry on attacking, raping and killing women.

Saw the woman on Channel 4, terrified that her violent rapist father will be released early.

This is unbelievable. I cannot understand what the fuck the govt thinks they will achieve with this scheme.

Meanwhile, VAWG is an epidemic, and the suggestion is to get boys to watch a docu drama.

This is disgusting, and says everything about how much the government values innocent victims' lives.

If the prisons are full and drastic measures are needed, and valuing life clearly isn't an issue, then the way to solve the problem is not to just release rapists and killers early. Unless you're releasing them into the sea. Frankly, just execute the ones you don't have room for, and free up some space that way. It's not ideal, but better than the other options.

Are you fucking kidding!!

AND I WAS JUST STARTING TO THINK… ahhh Burnham doesn’t sound too bad actually. Maybe Labour won’t be fucking awful 😞

They could refit the old military bases to be prisons and put criminals in those. We don’t need every last one for asylum seekers. I raise my eyebrows at the fact that mysteriously all our prisons are full and have been since this government turned up who seem very open to just letting men off for crimes, meanwhile the tories didn’t have this problem at all and nor did the previous labour government. But now we suddenly need 700 extra spaces a month? But we managed to squeeze in all those rioters and almost no one gets a long custodial sentence these days. But the prisons are full… 🧐 Colour me skeptical. I think they just want to get costs of housing prisoners down and they think the public will swallow this because no one pushed back when they started this early release scheme when they said murderers and rapists wouldn’t be eligible.

There is always money for defence, crazy projects that haven’t materialized, but no one thinks about women and the need to keep dangerous men off the streets.

Agree. Build more fucking prisons if needed.

Further evidence - as if it were needed - that Labour has contempt for women and their needs and concerns. No murderer, rapist or other sex offender should ever be released early.😨

Further evidence - as if it were needed - that Labour has contempt for women and their needs and concerns. No murderer, rapist or other sex offender should ever be released early.😨

Further evidence - as if it were needed - that Labour has contempt for women and their needs and concerns. No murderer, rapist or other sex offender should ever be released early.😨

Nightmare, poor women.

Acts of physical.violence, sexual assaults, child sexual abuse and manslaughter should not be included in these early release schemes. These prisoners should serve their full sentences. Another experiment where the general public are the guinea-pigs. I can't imagine how the victims of these crimes will feel.

Agreed but only 4% of the prison population is female so it wouldn’t solve the problem. The real problem is the huge number of men in prison who have some combination of addiction, mental health issues, lack of education and training who will not be helped in any way by prison.

But it’s not popular. The media prefers a polarising narrative. Many people in prison never stood a chance and need help. Prison isn’t the answer in most cases.